


A Flour-Coated Kitchen

by Saturnbear



Category: Welcome to Night Vale
Genre: Cecil abby and janice have a cookie making tradition, Family Fluff, Fluff, Happy holidays lgbts!!, Multi, Tooth-Rotting Fluff, and a special happy holidays to the night vale nation server. i love you all, and steve and carlos have a "lets make a really over the top gingerbread creation" tradition, here's a little gift from me to you, if no one else got me the palmer-carlsbergs got me can i get an amen, no beta we die like interns, nothing but fluff, thats it thats the entire plot
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-25
Updated: 2020-12-25
Packaged: 2021-03-11 04:47:11
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,025
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28309233
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Saturnbear/pseuds/Saturnbear
Summary: The Palmer-Carlsberg family settles down one afternoon to uphold a (albeit new,) baking tradition.
Relationships: Carlos & Steve Carlsberg, Carlos/Cecil Palmer, Janice & Abby Palmer, Janice & Cecil Palmer, Steve Carlsberg/Abby Palmer
Comments: 2
Kudos: 17





	A Flour-Coated Kitchen

**Author's Note:**

> Happy holidays yall!! This years almost done so heres a fluffy little thing I wrote in one sitting. Shout out to the night vale nation server for sparking this idea! (and also for being delightful friends)! Wish you all an upcoming better year than this one, and enjoy the product of my stream of thought. 
> 
> Merry Christmas <3

The lamps illuminating the flour-coated kitchen cast the entire house in a warm light.

Carlos was cautious in carrying a large bowl of freshly mixed icing from counter to the far table, only set up earlier that afternoon. He passed the dining table, catching the eyes of Cecil, who was himself coated up to the elbow in brightly colored frosting. Carlos shrugged a half hearted shrug, met in response by a half hearted eye-roll from Cecil.

Steve stood at the folding table. Piping a dwindling supply of icing to the edge of a slab of gingerbread. Carlos half set, half dropped the mixing bowl onto a free space of parchment. Steve chuckled in a bout of lighthearted surprise.

“Oh! Just in time!” He laughed, poking at the last of his piping bag.

Carlos looked across what they’d built so far.

“What do you think we should start next?” He asked. Steve pressed the edges of the gingerbread into the structure built up so far. He sat back.

“Well — How about starting on the little parking lot?”

“That could work!” Carlos responded.

_____

Abby spread another layer of frosting across the cookie in her hand. It was intended to look like an ancient, powerful symbol, the original meaning of which was long lost with time and lives. However, the dough spread a bit more than expected in the oven. It still had charm.

She looked up to Cecil, with Esteban in his lap. Cecil, who held his hands as he led him through the process of icing another small, vaguely star shaped cookie. She set her own cookie onto the parchment, and looked to Janice.

“How are yours coming along?” Abby asked, in a distinctly motherly-questioning tone.

Janice’s eyes snapped back from their staring across the kitchen.

”I — pretty well, pretty well.” She responded.

Abby sat silent for a moment as Janice spread a small bit of frosting on the corner of a cookie.

“I uh,” Janice started. “Do we know Dad and Carlos’s big project this year?”

Abby looked to Cecil. He handed Esteban a fresh cookie, and properly looked up back at Abby.

“I think they chose the strip mall this year? I know Carlos mentioned recreating the lab.” He twisted to look back at Carlos and Steve. Janice hummed in response, nodding. She fell back into silence, adding her cookie to the quickly growing pile on the parchment.

Abby reluctantly returned to the quiet as well. Cecil returned quickly to helping Esteban finish frosting a sugar cookie spire. Small talk was exchanged between Abby and Cecil quite often, but Janice kept to her complatative silence.

It took roughly five minutes for Abby to speak up. She guessed, at least.

”Got something on your mind?”

Janice looked up. “I…” She trailed off, pausing to think.

“Well… I mean I _like_ making cookies. Like, it’s a tradition and all, and…” She trailed off again, looking at her mother with a _’y’know?’ look._ Abby refused to let it show that she did indeed know. Rather, she waited for her to go on. Janice took a deeper breath.

”Do you think Dad and Carlos would want help? It’s just- they always spend so much time on it each year and I thought they might like it but also like, I know its a them thing and-”

Cecil looked up at her, and smiled.

”Do you want me to ask Carlos if you can join them?”

Janice shot up.

“Nononono- no it’s- you don’t need to-”

Cecil chuckled, Abby smiling alongside him.

“I don’t know, do you think you’re ready for graduating to the _big project_ table?” He teased. Janice chuckled.

“I mean- I guess? I just think it’d be kinda cool,”

Abby set her hand on the table in front of Janice, shutting her down. 

”Janice,” She began. “You’re a grown woman. This has been a tradition for years, but I wouldn’t want to go on with cookie making knowing a tradition has held you back. You’ve been a treasured aspect at this table, but if you wish to go onto better things, I trust you to.”

Janice smiled and nodded, more of a bouncing movement than the thoughtful nod she had intended. A small silence settled back between them in the gaps.

”...So should I-”

“Go ask your dad if you can join.”

“Right, right.”

_____

Carlos was in the process of icing on the lines of parking spaces when an approaching figure caught both his and Steve’s eye.

”Hey Jan!” Carlos called. She moved herself closer to the table, taking in what the two men had started. Clearly the beginnings of a larger project, with additions such as a sidewalk and the interiors of Carlos’s Lab and Big Rico’s marked out in pencil.

”Checking in on us?” Steve asked, looking up from the edge he’d freshly glued together. Janice smiled quickly.

”Well,” She looked again across what was built, basic walls and windows with still fresh icing holding them together. “...Would you guys want help this year?”

Steve and Carlos sat still for a moment. Carlos smiled, straightening his posture. Steve similarly grinned, and adopted a faux-serious tone.

“You ready for the responsibility of the big project table?” He asked, resting an elbow on the edge of the table. Janice laughed.

”I think I can handle it, yeah.” She giggled. Carlos stepped forward, a slab of gingerbread in hand. He stood before Janice, and tapped each of her shoulders with the slab, as if knighting her. She bowed her head in a smiling dip.

“Then we welcome you to the project of the year, young apprentice.” Steve spoke. Janice laughed a small bit further, properly situating herself beside the table. Carlos turned to look over at Cecil and Abby. Cecil looked up at him, and smiled. Carlos offered a smile back, before turning to introduce Janice to the mapping of the replica strip mall.

It had grown properly dark roughly an hour ago. But the kitchen lamps bathed the room in a warm light, and hardly a single person in the room could notice the passage of time. Not with the company they had chosen.

**Author's Note:**

> Woah thanks for reading!! As stated before, thank you to Night Vale Nation for being some really good friends this year. Ya'll are what made this more bearable. And as to everyone else: happy holidays!! Wish you all a swell time as this year comes to a close. And if you wanted, leave a comment! they bring me a lot of joy <3 <3
> 
> ___
> 
> Also: I made a spotify playlist of winter themed or holiday adjacent wtnv episodes so! here! https://open.spotify.com/playlist/5KEU43ZUjKGrO4M1BRtEBQ
> 
> Happy holidays fellas!!


End file.
